Professor Anton Krige
Consultant Intensive Care Medicine and Anaesthesia, Speciality lead for Anaesthesia NIHR greater Manchester CRN
School of Business
Anton is an active clinical researcher and research leader locally and nationally. Current projects focus on perioperative care, heart rate variability and analgesia for abdominal surgery in perioperative medicine and ketone esters in intensive care medicine. He is a recognised national expert in analgesia for major abdominal surgery and lectures at international conferences on this theme and conceived of and edited a textbook along with authoring chapters on the subject. Anton is an innovator within ICU, perioperative medicine and the wider hospital with many successful NHS projects since the start of his NHS Consultant career. When Enhanced Recovery after Surgery launched across the NHS in 2012 he was recognised as a regional expert and co-opted onto the Strategic Health Authority board leading the roll out across the North West region. Under Anton's 8 year tenure as Director of R&D at East Lancashire Teaching Hospitals (ELHT) he was instrumental in establishing strong research links and collaborations with UCLan academics and at a board level.
Anton was key in creating the infrastructure for ELHT and UCLan to work towards meeting the challenging joint research criteria for ELHT to become recognised as a University Teaching Hospital alongside UCLan Medical School during his tenure as ELHT Director of R&D. Anton has collaborated with UCLan staff for his clinical research resulting in a recent notable publication on Augmented Renal Clearance in critically ill patients. An exciting current collaboration with UCLan involves the study of the impact of exogenous ketone esters in the management of status epilepticus.
Anton contributes to local UCLan medical student teaching on their intensive care unit rotations.
Anton attended the University of Stellenbosch Medical School in South Africa, graduating in 1994, followed by specialist training in Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine in the UK attaining a Fellowship of the Royal College of Anaesthetists in 2001 followed by a fellowship from the Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine in 2011. He was accredited as a specialist in anaesthesia and intensive care medicine and was appointed as a Consultant at ELHT in 2005.
Anton has been an active educator throughout his career serving as an instructor Trauma and Paediatric Advanced Life Support Courses. He created and delivered local courses in Surviving Sepsis to multidisciplinary staff locally and Enhanced Recovery after Surgery for anaesthetists regionally. Anton is recognised as an expert in enhanced recovery after surgery, analgesia and advanced haemodynamic monitoring delivering regular national and regional lectures on these topics. Anton delivers bedside teaching to multidisciplinary staff including medical students and junior doctors in the operating theatre, ICU and one to one in the Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing Clinic during all of his clinical sessions.
Anton further contributes to formal teaching via delivering ICU regional tutorial topics. The role of academic research supervisor for the ELHT Academic Foundation Year doctors and the Clinical Research Fellow for Anaesthesia and Critical Care includes educating them on research and quality improvement methodology and the delivery of projects.
Anton is well known for introducing many large scale pivotal innovations across the organisation with the largest ongoing project being Enhanced Recovery after Surgery Programs started in 2008. This has grown from strength to strength leading to significant improvements in patient outcomes and a strong national reputation. He still provides clinical leadership.
Anton has both a managerial and leadership role in research as well as delivering his own clinical research.
Research leadership includes an 8-year tenure as R&D Director for ELHT ending in 2020, an NIHR CRN Speciality Lead since 2009 and the academic supervisor for Academic Foundation year doctors at ELHT as well as a clinical research fellow. As president of the North West Anaesthesia Trainee Research Network, he is mentoring the next generation of clinical researchers.
Highlights of Anton's own research include delivery of complex intervention RCT funded by a NIHR RfPB grant and being co-applicant on a successful large HTA grant application in 2021 to deliver the same complex intervention as a large multi-centre RCT.
- MBChB. University of Stellenbosch, 1994
- DIMC, Royal College Surgeons, Edinburgh, 1997
- FRCA, Royal College Anaesthetists, London, 2002
- Fellow of Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine, London, 2011
- POETTS (Perioperative Exercise Testing & Training Society) accreditation, Royal College of Anaesthetists, 2018
- Manchester Medical Society Section Anaesthesia Prize Presentation, 2004/ 2nd Place GAT (AAGBI) Annual Scientific Research Prize Presentation, 2004
- NIHR Research for Patient Benefit Grant awarded, 2007
- Certificate for Exceptional Efforts in Recruitment into NIHR Portfolio Studies , 2010
- Finalist NHS NW Innovative Clinical Leadership Award, 2010
- NHS Level 9 Clinical Excellence Award Holder (highest local award) reached 2013
- Co-applicant HTA grant award CAMELOT Study, 2021
- Analgesia for major abdominal surgery
- Perioperative medicine
- Prehabilitation before major surgery
- Enhanced recovery after surgery
- Inflammatory anaemia before surgery
- Heart Rate Variability
- Ketoen Esters
- Royal College of Anaesthetists (RCOA)
- Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine/ European Society of Intensive Care Medicine
- Association of North West Intensive Care Units
- POETTS (Perioperative Exercise Testing & Training Society)
- Lead for Anaesthesia Specialty Group - NIHR Greater Manchester CRN
- Perioperative Medicine lead for ELHT to RCOA
- POMCTN (Perioperative Medicine Clinical Trials Network)
- President North West Anaesthesia Trainee Research Network (NWRAG)
Anton has broad clinical research interests within the perioperative and critical care arena. These include analgesia for abdominal surgery, insulin resistance postoperatively, cardiopulmonary exercise testing, heart rate variability, perioperative anaemia management, ketone esters & influence hepatic steatosis interventions on liver resection surgery outcomes.
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- TERSC project which included the grant funded RCT comparing novel rectus sheath catheter analgesia to epidural analgesia following laparotomy as well as a nested qualitative study exploring patient experience and sub -studies exploring the metabolic effects and plasma concentrations of local anaesthetic agents. A follow up study of the incidence of post surgical; chronic pain has been conducted to explore risk factors. This project prompted the HTA to release a call for applications to deliver a large multi-centre trial to compare the intervention in the emergency laparotomy cohort. Anton is a co-applicant providing the intervention expertise for a group which has been awarded this HTA grant. Ketone ester research project to explore the use of exogenous ketone esters for treatment of acute seizures. Lactoferrin to treat inflammatory anaemia in major surgery. Changes in Heart Rate Variability to predict deterioration after major abdominal surgery earlier. Heart rate variability to titrate ICU sedation. Combining blood chemistry, demographics and Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing data to develop a machine learning algorithm for predicting postoperative mortality.
- National Institute for Health Research - Research for Patient Benefit Grant £249 067.00, 2017 National Institute for Health Research - HTA GrantNIHR133554 CAMELOT - Continuous rectus sheath Analgesia in eMErgency LaparOTomy Multi-centre, randomised sham-controlled trial of rectus sheath catheter-delivered local anaesthetic infusion compared with usual care in patients undergoing emergency bowel surgery - co-applicant
- Enhanced Recovery Lancashire – Colorectal Cancer Network, Grange over Sands, 2010 / Xigris-clinical trials to, clinical practice - Stanley House, Blackburn , 2010 / Benefits Enhanced Recovery - NW Enhanced Recovery Launch, Bolton, 2010 / Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing Lecture - ANWICU, Windermere, 2010 / Chair NW SHA Enhanced Recovery Program Event - Aintree, 2010 / Beyond Epidurals - Pain Relief Methods and Outcomes, Manchester, 2012 / Analgesia for abdominal surgery - Pain Symposium, Preston Marriott, 2013 / Enhanced Recovery Update - Association of Anaesthetists of Great Britain & Ireland (AAGBI) Core Topic Meeting, Manchester, 2013 / Pain relief after colonic surgery? National Acute Pain Symposium, Chester, 2013 /How to deliver research – Evidence Based Perioperative Medicine Meeting, Manchester, 2014 / Non-epidural options abdominal surgery – Yorkshire Society Anaesthetists, Leeds, 2014 /Analgesia for major abdominal surgery- National Acute Pain Symposium, Chester, 2014 /Analgesia for major abdominal surgery - Scottish Society of Anaesthetists, Glasgow, 2014 /Analgesia for major abdominal surgery - AAGBI Winter Scientific Meeting, QE2 Conference Centre, London, 2015 / NWRAG Study Day, Bolton, 2015 / Gastric Ultrasound for Assessment Aspiration Risk - Obstetric Anaesthetists Association Annual Congress, Manchester, 2016 / Analgesia for abdominal surgery – Norwich, Anaesthesia Update, 2016 / NWRAG Study Day, Bolton, 2016 / Regional analgesia abdominal surgery - Update Ultrasound Regional Anaesthesia, Wrightington, 2017 /Epidurals vs. wound catheters/rectus sheath blocks – what is the evidence? – ERAS World Congress, Stockholm, Sweden, 2018 / Perioperative Analgesia - Association of Coloproctology of GBI Annual Meeting, Birmingham, 2018 / Epidurals vs Rectus Sheath catheter for major abdominal surgery – National Acute Pain Symposium, Harrogate, 2018 /Pathophysiology Acute Postoperative Pain - ERAS World Congress, Liverpool, 2019 / Rectus Sheath Catheters – AAGBI Annual Congress, Glasgow, 2019 /
- Rectus Sheath catheters – the evidence – ESRA European Conference - Virtual, 2021
Telephone:+44 (0) 7843246721
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